Not With A Whimper But With Deactivation

It was supposed to end in fire or flood or at least a spectacular earthquake as the Bondicarr Fault tore Northumberland in half and tipped Hexham into The North Sea.  I always thought The Apocalypse would have been dramatic, definitely something to write home about... except, of course, there would be no home to write to and  Royal Mail would have it's first justified mass mail delivery failure since privatisation.   There should have been zombies rampaging through the cobbled streets razing the market to ashes and defiling Priestpopple with the random shedding of the odd gangrened limb or two.

Yet as I rode The Gizmobile through my pretty market town there was no indication that anything was amiss with this little corner of the world, no tell-tale signs that a seismic shift had occurred in the Jeni cosmos,  all seemed fine and dandy apart from an unseen rift in the Cyberverse with its portend of isolation and dislocation.

JENI HAS BEEN BOOTED FROM FACEBOOK     !!!!!!!!

When I was asked to admin a little Facebook reuse and recycle group that had been all but abandoned by its creator, it seemed a good way to spend a few minutes a day doing something to support my community and help people who couldn't afford to buy new, whilst never needing to leave the comfort of home on those pain days that turn a flight of stairs into The Son Of Everest.  Having been in The Precariat demographic for many years in the past I know the value of freebies.  My little home is still furnished with bargain buys, bought three decades ago from tatty corner shops serving a less than salubrious Newcastle district, hi there Arthur's Hill.   Only those who have lived true poverty can fully see the  value in  what others call junk.

That little FB group grew, the membership mushroomed, the minutes dedicated multiplied to hours until the group was a few thousand strong with a sterling reputation in the area and users who became vicarious friends.  It started to take a toll on my time and this esteemed blog fell by the wayside.  Not Trump nor Johnson, Brexit nor Covid roused me sufficiently to plonk phalanges on keys in order to vent my inner blogger, then.... 

FACEBOOK GAVE ME THE SACK

The sorry saga would be a blog post of it's own but that's not why I am peevishly pounding the keys today, I am here to give you a heads up.  If FB deactivates your account you lose EVERYTHING... FOREVER. your photos, friends list, websites that you access via FB login, Messenger and it's contacts, all your groups  disappear and even if you can prove you were removed in error they DON'T COME BACK.  They are cast into that Bondicarr Fault, tumbling into the infinity of the Great Delete Box In The Interweb.  

It's no good crying on support chat as there isn't one, don't bother emailing as you will be one of millions festering in their inbox.  Let's face it when you have a usership of THREE BILLION one little UK soul isn't anywhere near the top of the list even if you have just lost all your wedding photos and little Johnnie's first ever school day.  And why are you left flailing and adrift?  It's because robotics have taken over.  There isn't a human to appeal to it's all automated.  AI and its diligent army of bots has no sense of nuance and absolutely no interest in the needs and mistakes of mere mortals, this way madness lies.

Ok, we are just talking social media here not life, death and Armageddon.   But for the disabled, and since covid more frequently the elderly, social media is their life, or at least a window onto life.   On those Son Of Everest days i can roam the nations, speak with people all over the world, serve my community by enabling freebie swap groups, vicariously attend a friend's wedding via Facetime, be recommended my next book to read, find someone in my area to fix my fridge, give moral support to a group member taking their wheelchair on public transport for the first time, learn from other cancer ladies and on and on and on.....LIFE IN ALL ITS FULLNESS  !!!

I have managed to open another account, BUT the only way was under a pseudonym, using a VPN, on an account opened by a 3rd party and on a virgin tablet that has no history or photos of my previous incarnation.  Oh, and I'll never be able to put a full face photo on as FB use facial recognition.  I have become Jenny Hall if you want to find me.  I would absolutely recommend you back up all your info, photos, friends, everything because it could easily happen to you.